Written by three industry veterans, The Travel Advisor's Handbook is the essential guide for both new and seasoned advisors. The book covers a wide scope of topics, from starting your agency to advanced concepts in sales and marketing techniques, websites and social media, hosting your own travel events, and much more. The authors are three travel industry veterans - Michael Akana, ECCS, Christopher Grum, ECC, and Scott McAlister, ECC. In the first section, the authors explore whether or not the travel industry is a good fit for someone considering a career in the field. They debunk some of the myths about being a travel advisor and share exercises designed to see if you have the free time and skills necessary to enter the field. Section two focuses on starting your own travel agency, including an in-depth study of both being an independent agency and being a part of a larger host agency or consortia. Topics include creating the actual agency, branding, best practices, ethics, behind-the scenes work like accounting and payroll, and social media. The third section explores growing your business. What do you do in the early years when the phone isn't constantly ringing? How can you use marketing, your supplier contacts, and events to grow your prospects and customers? These questions and more are answered, plus details on working with groups and even tactics for ship and site inspections plus conventions and seminars. The final section of The Travel Advisor's Handbook covers advanced concepts like sales techniques, philanthropy, advocacy & politics, and special needs travel. The book also includes a glossary and definitions of frequently used travel acronyms. Foreword written by Charles Sylvia, ECC - VP, Industry & Trade Relations - Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).